It is known to outfit automotive interiors with various trim components to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the automotive interior and to provide comfort and convenience to vehicle occupants. Examples of these interior trim components include instrument panels, arm rests, door trim panels, and consoles. To increase the aesthetic appearance of the trim components and to improve the comfort and convenience to vehicle occupants, is often desired to form at least portions of the trim components with areas which are soft to the touch. Typically, these soft-feel areas have been formed by providing a resilient padding material beneath a pliable surface layer such as leather, vinyl, or fabric material.
One conventional method of forming trim components with padded material includes injecting foam material between a rigid substrate and a flexible skin layer joining the skin and substrate together. In another conventional method, a preformed, soft, resilient pad is secured to a rigid plastic shell and a pliable skin layer is stretched over the pad and secured to the shell to form the trim component. These prior methods of making automotive trim components are generally costly due to the need to handle multiple pieces and the multiple manufacturing steps required to make a padded trim component.
Various other trim assemblies have been manufactured using a two-shot molding process wherein a relatively soft skin layer is formed over a hard substrate material without padding. However, the trim panels produced by two-shot molding are relatively hard and unforgiving, compared to trim assemblies having foam layers and pads, and thus lack the improved aesthetics and comfort provided by padded trim assemblies. A need therefore exists for an automotive trim component which provides a soft feel comparable to trim components having padded materials, while further reducing manufacturing costs.